At least a dozen people were wounded on Saturday in the main city of Indian Kashmir as Muslim demonstrators clashed with troops in the latest anti-India protest to hit the region, police and witnesses said. Indian troops fired tear-gas shells and chased stone-throwing protesters with batons, as they shouted: “Indian forces go back. Hundreds of protesters, many with faces covered with cloths and handkerchiefs, burned tyres and threw rocks at police in different parts of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital, witnesses said. At least 37 protesters have been killed by government forces since last month in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, scene of some of the biggest pro-independence rallies since a revolt against New Delhi's rule began in 1989. More than 1,000 people have been injured in the protests, sparked by a decision to grant land to build shelters for Hindu pilgrims traveling to Kashmir, one of the world's most militarized regions. Authorities had imposed a curfew on Friday to prevent demonstrations in two towns in south and north Kashmir after two protesters were killed and 80 wounded in clashes with troops. Yasin Malik, a senior separatist leader and chief of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), was himself injured while leading a protest march. Indian troops have been criticized by Kashmiris and international human rights groups for using excessive force to quell protests in the disputed Himalayan region. “These incidents will be investigated and anyone (found) guilty will be punished,” Prabhakar Tripathy, spokesman of the Central Reserve Police Force, told reporters in Srinagar. Separatist leaders have also complained that the government used excessive force to stop protests. “It is a martial law-like situation in Kashmir, Indian troops are using brute force to crush us,” said Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat (freedom) Conference. “Inshallah (God willing), our struggle will reach its logical end soon,” he said after leading prayers in Srinagar's grand mosque. Tens of thousands have been killed in the revolt since 1989.
